Horizon Forbidden Westand its predecessorZero Dawnare known for their graphics, story, and red-headed protagonist Aloy, yet one aspect that can be overlooked is their featured locations. Situated throughout the West and Southwestern United States, both games encompass broad geographical areas with well-known mountains, national parks, historical landmarks, rivers, and cities - down to individual streets. These real-world features help enhance the series' lore about theworld’s end in the 21st Century, and exploring them brings players a sense of wonder as they traverse through ruins reclaimed by nature.
While the sites featured inHorizon Forbidden WestandZero Dawndo a great job of recreating the real world, physical distances have been shortened to make their maps traversable. As a result, these areas are not fully representative of actual geographical locations, and in-game lore changes the purposes of some sites givenHorizon’s backstory covers events up through the mid-2060s. Whether they be actively used by the cultures ofHorizon’spresent peoples or ruins of the ancient past, Aloy has plenty to explore across her adventures.
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Colorado
Featured heavily during the events ofHorizon Zero Dawn, Colorado is home to the Nora Tribe, which is the culture from which Aloy was outcast at birth. The Nora are heavily Matriarchal, worshipping their Goddess the All-Mother, which turns out to be the door to the ELEUTHIA-9 Cradle Facility: a part ofGAIA that oversaw the restorationof the human species through stored embryos. The following sites in Colorado are present throughout the game:
Utah
Predominantly Carja territory, the Carja tribe hail from the same ELEUTHIA-9 Cradle Facility in All-Mother Mountain as the Nora. Carja legend states Araman discovered ancient documents within Old World ruins that detailed observations of the Sun, which led to the Carja forming their society and religion around the star and what they call Sun-Kings. Years before the start ofHorizon, the thirteenth Sun-King (also called the Mad King) began a bloody campaign against othertribes called the Red Raids, which saw countless people sacrificed in the Sun Ring to appease the Machines. Places within Utah that Aloy visits include:
Wyoming
Centered around large swaths of Yellowstone National Park,Horizon Zero Dawn’s The Frozen Wilds DLCintroduced players to The Cut - Banuk territory. While little is known about Banuk history due to their oral traditions, it is assumed they come from the same ELEUTHIA-9 Cradle Facility as the other tribes featured in the firstHorizontitle. Aloy visits numerous spots throughout Wyoming, including:
Nevada
As the series unfolds and Aloy makes her way west throughoutHorizon Forbidden West, new locations are added that range from Utah and Nevada to the San Francisco coast. These geographical landmarks house the Utaru and Tenakth tribes, and like other societies featured in the series, they are believed to have come from the Cradle Facility at ELEUTHIA-9.
The Utaru, while capable of solid defenses, are primarily an agrarian culture that worships the Earth and its cycle of birth, growth, death, and decay. Meanwhile, Tenakth dominate theForbidden West as fierce warriorswho value strength, honor, and courage. The Tenakth are divided into three warring clans: Desert, Sky, and Lowland. ThroughoutHorizon Forbidden West, visits various parts of Nevada, particularly around the Las Vegas area:
California
While the Tenakth extends into what is modern-day California,Horizon Forbidden Westalso introduces the Quen tribe from across the water. As tribes on the mainland are advancing their technologies, the Quen are vastly superior in their understanding of and access to Old-World technology. Using outdated Focuses, their search for relics has brought them toSan Francisco at a location they call Landfall. Aloy, in her dealings with the Quen, explores areas of across the California coastline and beyond:
While these games are home to ruins and tribal societies, their beauty also houses dangers like Machines that have become deranged. Aloy explores fearlessly in her never-ending quest to learn the truth of the Old World, her birth, andhow to restore GAIAso she can save the world. Fans will have to wait and see what places Guerrilla explores in the next entry.
Horizon Forbidden Westis available now on PS4 and PS5.
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